Stocks - S&P Soars on Bets of Central Banks Stimulus, Slowing China Infections

By Yasin Ebrahim

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P extended its gains Monday as tech stocks, led by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), staged comeback amid signs of a slowdown in infections in China and growing investor bets on global central banks adopting aggressive stimulus measures to cushion the impact on from the coronavirus on economic growth.

The S&P 500 rose 2.44%, the Nasdaq Composite surged 2.71% and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 676 points, or 2.66%.

Following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's pledge on Friday to support the U.S. economy, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda over the weekend said the central bank would take steps to stabilize financial markets, stoking investor hopes the global central bank stimulus measures would ease the expected to hit growth.

The Bank of England said its was also ready to take action to calm markets.

A 50-basis-point Fed rate cut fully priced in for March, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.

Signs the coronavirus spread is slowing in China also helped sentiment.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said China reported 206 new cases of Covid-19, on Sunday, the lowest number of new cases since Jan. 22.

The rebound in the broader sector was underpinned by a rally in tech stocks, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) leading the charge thanks to an upgrade from Wall Street.

Oppenheimer upgraded its rating on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to outperform from perform on expectations that demand for Apple would continue despite uncertain times. Apple) jumped 6%.

Chip stocks also mounted a rebound following a selloff last week as investors piled into beaten-down names like Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO).

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